Hello everyone, my name is Peter Brewer, thank you to the Minister, teachers and the YMCA National
Capital Region Power of Trades program for giving me the opportunity to speak.
The YMCA and their program have truly changed my life for the better and given me a chance to start in a new career with a clear path for advancement.
I started my working career in the indoor plant growing industry I got educated in it and worked several jobs throughout Ontario. I loved the work but found the plant I specialized in was not as profitable as I had initially thought. Several times I moved to a new town or city for a job and within a few months to a year the business would go under. This left me stuck on leases and having to eat moving costs all the while new jobs were getting more and more difficult to find. Last year after it happened again I decided I needed a change and wanted to get into skilled trades for more steady work and a powerful union. Once I had made this decision I found myself still struggling to get my foot in the door with construction jobs. I had no relevant experience and no relationships with anyone in companies. I am really blessed to have found the YMCA program Power of trades Home builder program.
This program gave me both hard skills such as safe tool use, certificate such as working at heights, soft skills such as confidence in interviews and most importantly for me the opportunity to network with people already in the
trades. During my time at homebuilders I met a union representative for Local 200 and got into a training program with them. I have since been working with the company inflector on parliament hill. The job is fun very physical and the union and my coworkers are great. It is really nice being in an industry that is in demand and has room for growth.
I truly believe the YMCA power of trades program is a valuable resource to help both newcomers to Canada and people looking to switch careers a way out of un/underemployment and I thank the minister and the government for giving them this grant as I know it will help improve many other peoples lives.
